NIGHT MEETS

NZ Truth, Issue 1144, 3 November 1927, Page 12

NIGHT MEETS

Under Lights At

The Basin

(By "Starter.")

Quite a number of stars m the athletic and cycling firmament showed their paces to an appreciative public at the Basin Reserve, Wellington, at the inaugural electric light meeting last Saturday. p OOD form was shown and promise j is held out of things to come when the season settles down. The piece de resistance of the evening was the clash between those two champion wheelmen, Frank Grose (Christchurch) and Tom Oakley (Masterton). Honors rested with Oakley on performances of the evening, but it cannot be said that the result was by any means conclusive. A slight dew on the track made fast riding rather uncertain, and m the mile handicap Grose had a slight skid that took the steam out of him at the critical moment. This allowed Oakley to go on and win with a slashing burst down the straight. The order was reversed m the halfmile scratch race final. Grose won his heat m the fastest time of the evening. In the second heat, Oakley, essaying to come through on the inside when entering the straight, found the way barred. He was forced to see the rear wheels of Scarfe and James beckoning him over the winning mark. Grose Absent With Oakley out of it, Grose carried off the final honors m easy style. In the other event of the evening Oakley again scored a nice viotory, but this time the race was robbed of much interest by the' absence of Grose, who found that the effects of a cold were beginning to tell on him m the heat and wisely withdrew. "Starter" has watched the form of these two boys carefully for the last two seasons, and when a correspon- j dent some time ago raised the point as to which was definitely the superior rider* "Starter" was unable to separate them and looked for the results of this season's racing tq settle the question. At this stage, however, Grose gives the impression of not riding with his looked-for freshness and vim, and it seems that the Canterbury boy would be well advised to take a spell from his machine for a week or two. More especially is this so m view of the demands that a rigorous road racing season must have made on his vitality. Oakley, on the other hand, has never ridden with greater dash, and, j if he keeps on the way he is shaping, the Wairarapa rider will be a hard nut to crack on any track and j under any conditions.

Eose Defeated

The surprise of the evening was the. win of Don. Priestly, the University champion, m the mile handicap. Priestly was on the 35yds. mark, but when Rose moved up to him along the back straight of the last lap, the crowd thought it was all over. The effort of making up the start, however, had drawn on the champion's reserve of strength, and when Priestly went away for the second time, he was too strong for Rose and crossed the line about eight yards to the good. Of course, it was apparent that Rose was by no means fit, but here the writer takes the opportunity of reminding the champion that there will be eager hands snatching for his crown at the N.Z. championships. From all accounts, both Savidan and Gibbons are well forward m their training for the championship, and they are no mean opponents. The N.Z. mile championship will probably be won m about 4min. 24secs., which is 10 seconds better than the time m Saturday's race. Rose, therefore, will have to improve by at least twelve seconds m order to win. Trainer Syd. Murray will need to get his charge down to tin tacks. It would be a great pity to see a runner of Rose's calibre defeated simply through not being fit. Some of the other events of the evening were up to standard and a feature was the large, number of new handicap runners who showed excellent form. Champion Roger Lander waa seen out m the 120 yds. hurdles, and although he just failed to get home m the final, run m 16 l/ssecs., he hurdled beautifully. The time was good for electric light conditions, and E. G. Sutherland displayed some of his best form m winning from 6yds. and one hurdle down. Sutherland also made his presence felt m a number of other events, winning the high jump with sft. S^in., the long jump with a leap of 21ft. l%in., and putting the shot 43ft. lin. with sft. 6in. handicap. Sutherland will be the hardest man to beat m the Australasian championship decathlon. Outstanding amongst the other performers were J. Carswell (cycling), J. T. Fleming (sprints), T. Cole (halfmile) and Miss Collins (ladies' events).